Inland Algarve by motorcycle: Silves and the Barrocal of Alte, Salir and Querença

This is the Algarve that never makes it onto the coastal postcards. The route sets off from Portimão, follows the Arade valley up to Silves and heads east on the N124, halfway between the coast and the hills: the Barrocal, a limestone belt of almond, carob and orange trees. In late January and February, the almond blossom turns it white and pink.

Silves was the chief city of the Islamic Algarve, and its red sandstone castle is, according to Turismo de Portugal, the largest fortification in the region; it has been a national monument since 1910. São Bartolomeu de Messines, further east, is the birthplace of the poet João de Deus, author of the Cartilha Maternal, and his house museum stands next to the parish church.

Alte is built around its two springs, the Fonte Pequena and the Fonte Grande, and honours in azulejos the poet Cândido Guerreiro, born there in 1871. Salir keeps, on a limestone hill, the remains of a rammed-earth castle in the Almohad tradition. Alte, Salir and Querença all belong to the municipality of Loulé and lie within the Algarvensis Geopark. The route ends in Loulé via the N396.

Why it does not go through Monchique: the EN266, the road from Portimão to Monchique, was cut in several places by the storms of February 2026 (Monchique council listed km 43.7, 46.7 and 47.2 as closed in the Portimão direction), and we have found no official confirmation that it has fully reopened. Once Infraestruturas de Portugal or the council declare it open, the Serra de Monchique will be the natural extension of this route.